The present invention relates to an ejector system for the extraction of cartridge casings or casing bottoms from a tubular weapon provided with a breechblock wedge. More particularly the present invention relates to an ejector system which includes two ejector levers pivotally mounted for movement about an axis extending perpendicular to an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the barrel of the weapon and provided with respective ejector claws, and which is suitable for large caliber weapons, particularly in armored cannons.
An ejector system of the above-outlined general type is disclosed, for example, in Swiss Patent CH 0,670,502. The system disclosed in this patent extracts and ejects empty cartridge casings from the cartridge chamber of an automatic weapon with the aid of two ejector claws that are fastened to ejector levers. The ejector levers are mounted on a shaft and perform a circular arc pivoting movement when the cartridge casing is extracted. The result of this ejector movement, in which the direction of the ejector claws changes constantly, is that from round to round the cartridge casing has an undefined direction of flight.
Similar ejector systems are also employed in large caliber weapon systems, for example, in armored weapon systems. In such weapon systems, the undefined direction of flight of the cartridge casings or, if the casings are combustible, of the cartridge bottoms (bases, stub casings) creates problems of storage and discarding of the extracted casings. Furthermore, problems exist if automatic loading systems are employed which require uniform ejection of the cartridge casings.